Bolsover District Council workers set to join strike over pay

Kevin Rogers

Staff at Bolsover District Council will be among thousands of local council and school support workers in Derbyshire set to strike on 10 July as part of nationwide action over pay.

Members of the UNISON GMB and Unite unions will walk out over pay and conditions in the biggest one-day strike over pay by public sector workers since 2010.

They will be joined by firefighters, the PCS covering job centres and civil service offices and the National Union of Teachers.

Unison has claimed pay and below-inflation pay rises had reduced local government workers’ pay by 20 per cent since the coalition came to power in 2010.

Kevin Shillitto, UNISON Joint Branch Secretary at Bolsover District Council said: “Council workers have kept services going despite four years of draconian cuts to local government.

“Workers across local government care for our elderly and our vulnerable, keep our streets clean and educate and look after our children.

“They deserve better treatment than they have had at the hands of the Coalition. We keep hearing about the supposed economic recovery but our members haven’t witnessed it.

“Taking strike action is never easy but our members are sending a clear message to the Government that they have had enough. More than 400,000 local government workers in this country are paid less than the living wage of £7.65 an hour, the majority of qhom are low paid women. This is simply not acceptable.

“The employers must get back into talks immediately to avoid a prolonged and damaging dispute.”